Macbeth Deception Research Paper

Deception is all around. It is in low-calorie cookies, diet soda, and even the weather. William Shakespeare is known for his wonderful use of deception in his plays. In his shortest of his major tragedies, Macbeth, he uses deception in almost every scene. Dr. Jennifer Minter sas in her article “Macbeth: a study in power”, “Typically, Shakespeare ambiguously suggests that all three main protagonists, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches, contribute to the tragedy. However, at the same time, he leaves it up to the audience to determine how much blame they would apportion to each.” For this reason, the three main themes of deception are with the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, the witches, and with Lady Macbeth.

One theme of deception in

Shakespeare uses these witches to signify all of the evil in the world. Richard Whalen says in his article “The Scottish/Classical Hybrid Witches in Macbeth”, “The three witches in Macbeth play a significant, double role that has not been recognized or fully appreciated by critics.” These witches add deception to the play by deceiving Macbeth and Banquo. On page 327 line 50 the witches deceive Macbeth by saying, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” The witches play to what Macbeth really wants and deceive him into believing he can have it.

Lady Macbeth is the third theme of deception used by Shakespeare in his play Macbeth. In all of Act I and Act II, Lady Macbeth uses the most deception out of all of the characters. She knows how to manipulate her husband to get him to do what she wants and she uses it to her advantage. She pressures him into doing what he knows is wrong. Shakespeare shows this on page 336 line 63, “To beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.” She lies and manipulates until she gets her